Performers MIK/MIJ...which was 1st?

[Mudlark]

There's been debate on the subject for sure. The serial thread on this forum suggests 1998 was the first year for MIJ and I tend to agree between '96-8 somewhere is correct. I've never seen a MIJ serial for 1995 (Performers 1st year) nor have I seen a MIJ date stamp earlier than '98 that I can recall. I've seen '98-2000 MIJ stamps and serials often. 2000 was the final year in the catalogues for the series.

Today I clued into something. The '95-'97 catalogues feature the widely spaced Korean dots on the board. The first pic of the narrow MIJ dots is the '98 catalogue.

I feel this confirms Korea was first, though the year of change is still up in the air since it's possible they used old pics for the '96-7 catalogues even though they may have been MIJ at that point.

[Schadenfreude]

Pretty sure i got my PS-3 in 96 and thats Korean.

[rjohnstone]

It's a bit odd as the Performers were born out of the Concept line, which were all MIJ.

[Mudlark]

I surmise the move was for cost cutting reasons.
I have a hard time deciding between '97 and '98.

[pianoguyy]

I've always been told that Performers started in Japan. Then moved to Korea. Then came back to Japan.

[rjohnstone]

If you look at the 1995 catalog, the Performers are clearly Korean spec. Wide dots and all.

http://support.jacksonguitars.com/catalogs/us/Jackson1995PerformerSeries_catalog.pdf

Just odd that they would build them there after the Concept line was all MIJ.

[Mudlark]

I heard of guys swearing up and down the guitar they bought in '95-6 was Japanese. They'd get fighting mad about it.
But, I can think of no reason for using those wide dots in the early catalogues if they were MIJ.


I've learnt to never say never, but this seems pretty solid.

[rjohnstone]

I was one of those guys at one point.
But when you take into consideration that necks and plates can be swapped, it's easy to get confused with a used guitar.

[Schadenfreude]

Mines still all original, neck plate, serial and all. Sadly no sticker/print of country of origin but wide dots and Korean serial. Can/will post pics if needed but meh, its a Korean PS-3 from 96, dime a dozen, nothing thats not been seen a thousand times before.

[slayer]

I once owned a long time ago a MIJ Performer Fusion. Wish I still had it. I think it was the EX or something. Had the pickguard on it. It played and sounded fantastic.